News

Brave Riders

—Arie Church6/9/2014

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Three
wounded airmen participating in the 2014 Air Force Association Cycling Classic shared
their stories of overcoming wounds, severe illness, and disability during a
Friday lunch discussion sponsored by AFA’s Wounded Airman Program. "I got invited
to the first Air Force [Warrior Games] trials in January 2013, and just fell in
love with these kind of sports camps," said Capt. Mitchell Kieffer, who
suffered a traumatic brain injury from an improvised explosive detonation in
Iraq. Sporting "gave me a reason to fight again," he said during the June
6 roundtable in Arlington, Va. "I've always been an athlete, I've played
sport[s] my entire life," added SSgt. Melissa Garcia, who is undergoing
treatment for breast cancer and competing during her treatment. Garcia said the
wounded warrior sports programs helped her show her daughter "that mommy's
not sick" and gives her a reason to "keep going," which has
"helped a lot," she added. Kieffer, Garcia, and SSgt. Daniel Crane,
who was medically retired and awaiting amputation of his right arm, were
expected to ride in AFA’s Cycling ClassicJune 8. (AFA release.) (See also Wounded Airman Recovery On and Off the Field
from the inaugural edition of Wingman
Magazine.)